Readers sound off on the Cross Bronx, bicycles and terrorism

Dallas: Dear Mayor de Blasio: I have written to you before about the following issue: I am in New York many weeks at a time, and often travel the Cross-Bronx Expressway. In September, I pulled over to the side of the expressway and counted more than 200 trucks in the left lane. I know it’s not safe for officers to give tickets, but why can’t you put up cameras? Those tickets would bring in millions of of dollars for your city.

Another idea is for enforcement officers to drive back and forth and take pictures of license plates, and mail tickets. Something should be done about this problem, which nobody seems to care about. The city could make so much money! Mitch Goldminz

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The two-wheeled menace

Wantagh, L.I.: I am proposing a Bicycle Enforcement Unit be formed in NYC. They should be equipped with a metal shredder. Any moron they catch flying through red lights or riding in bus lanes should be arrested and their bicycles placed in the shredder. Wake up, Mayor Doofus: These idiots you have empowered are a menace to the 99% of New Yorkers who aren’t riding bikes and absolutely nothing is being done about it! We the people are tired of this nonsense! Thomas Urban

Democracy threatened

Bronx: It seems the biggest problem Americans face right now isn’t a President who is continually embarrassing himself and our country. It is the slow, meticulous way the Republican Party is building a stronghold over the electoral process. It doesn’t matter which political party you belong to. What should matter to each and every voting American is that our elections should have the result that we, the people, decide. Not any political party. That is called democracy. When you unconstitutionally eliminate people from voting; when you gerrymander districts to obtain party advantages; when you use fear to sway an election, you instead form a nation under dictatorship rule. This is not a strategy employed by Democrats, who respect the laws, the Constitution and the people. Carmelo Burgos

Terror is as terror does

Manhattan: Last month saw an unprecedented series of acts of domestic terrorism. And yet, as compared to international terrorists, none of the homegrown terrorists responsible — for murdering 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, for murdering two black Americans in Kentucky, and for sending bombs to 14 American leaders — will be charged as terrorists. The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism as criminal acts intended “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” but does not provide for prosecution for under that standard. These terrorists will likely be charged with murder, hate crimes and related charges under federal or state law. Congress and federal prosecutors should follow the example of New York City, where white supremacist James Jackson stands indicted under a state statute for Murder as an Act of Terrorism for his murder of a black man in an effort to start a race war. All violence intended to terrorize a particular group, including that perpetrated by white supremacists, is an act of terrorism against us all. Lucy Lang, executive director, Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Remember Kristallnacht

Flushing: I am an educator and docent at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. It is both difficult and troubling to believe, as we approach Nov. 9, the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht — the infamous anti-Jewish pogrom by Nazi Germany — that we would now experience the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Sad but true. Al Musaffi

Respect the dead

Yorktown Heights, N.Y.: The shootings at the Pittsburgh synagogue were horrific, but to me it was made even more painful when conspiracy theories immediately appeared on the internet stating that the shootings didn’t happen but were staged for political reasons.The people who make up these lies are causing more heartache for the families of the victims and must stop doing this. Anthony Vegliante

Taxed out

Springfield Gardens: I have read and saved many excellent news articles on the inequality of property taxes in New York City. As usual, the working class (lower income) neighborhoods seem to pay as much or possibly higher property taxes than homes in trendy, upper class neighborhoods. According to your April 23, 2017, article “Your big tax slam,” the mayor has two $1.5 million homes in Park Slope and pays $3,500 in property taxes for each home. I own a two-family in Queens and pay $5,400 per year, and my neighbor has a one-family house and pays $4,200 per year in taxes. Why are de Blasio’s taxes so low, when can we stop talking about this problem and when will this problem be corrected? Kathi Mitchell

Givers and takers

Ledyard, Conn.: I would love for a news organization to do an in-depth analysis comparing the cost of individual welfare benefits to the amount of money lost through subsidies, buyouts, lobbying, tax loopholes and fraud benefiting wealthy individuals and corporations. Donald Trump asserted that not paying federal taxes makes him smart. This is our role model? He tried to excuse himself by saying that he doesn’t like to pay taxes because the government wastes money. Yet rather than focus on that, he wants our attention on immigrants, who make a good scapegoat for the fears generated around supposedly finite resources. Really, America, we have enough for everyone if we eliminate greed, fraud and waste, and value people over power and profit. United we stand, divided, we fall. Lisa Allen

Heathens’ holiday

Brooklyn: Halloween is not a religious holiday. Check your church calendar, please. It centers around a pagan ritual to ward off evil while farmers bring in their crops before the winter sets in. There are other explanations, but none being associated with Catholic holidays. Dorothy Collins

Accursed

West Babylon, L.I.: Red Sox fans threw a beer and broke the World Series trophy during the Boston parade. This is something Yankee fans have been waiting for! I can just hear the chants decades from now: 2018! 2018! 2018!, the year the Red Sox last won a World Series. It will be known as the “curse of the trophy.” It was 100 years ago that the Red Sox started their last curse, the “curse of the Bambino,” so it will be fitting! So let’s go Yankees 2019! Bob McKibbin

Insult to veterans

Lake Ariel, Pa.: To the morally bankrupt SNL writers and Pete Davidson: As a Vietnam combat veteran, I found it disgusting that you made a joke about a combat veteran’s wound. I suggest you need to take a field trip to Walter Reed Hospital or spend a few hours walking through Arlington National Cemetery before writing any new material. Robert T. Addieg